Dickinson named top Big East pitcher for 3rd straight year

Pardon the basketball metaphor, but Southern Nash High’s Anna Dickinson was a slam dunk as the 2-A/3-A Big East Conference Pitcher of the Year after a dominant junior season in the circle.

Dickinson sparked the Ladybirds to the Big East title as she led the league in wins, ERA, no hitters, shutouts and strikeouts to earn her third straight award as the top pitcher from Big East coaches. In fact, Southern Nash has had a stranglehold on the conference pitcher-of-the-year award for seven years. Carrigan Ewers won it in 2018 and 2019 in the 3-A Big East Conference and, after the missed COVID season of 2020, Kierstin Cooper took home the honor in the final year of the 3-A Big East.

“We’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve had some really good pitchers and we have some really good pitchers now,” said Ladybirds head coach Scott Collie, who was saluted as Big East Coach of the Year after his sixth title in seven actual seasons. “And yeah, I think she has certainly distinguished herself as one of the one of the top pitchers, certainly in our area and the (NCHSAA 3-A) East. She’s been really good.”

Dickinson was dominant all season, winning 15 straight decisions until the Ladybirds bowed to Holly Ridge Dixon, 5-4, in the third round of state 3-A playoffs. Her 0.42 ERA was the second lowest in the state and 46th nationally and her 185 strikeouts ranked third in the 3-A East and 22nd across North Carolina in all associations. She pitched 100 of the Ladybirds’ 133 innings.

“I think, obviously, she’s very talented and she has the skills necessary to be a really good pitcher, but I think this year she was just comfortable,” Collie said. “It was her third year being in high school and being on varsity and I think there was just a higher level of comfort with her, on the field but also just with our coaches in terms of calling pitches. … I just felt that she was really, really good from beginning to end.”

Dickinson, a two-time 3-A all-state selection by North Carolina Softball Coaches Association, threw two no-hitters and eight shutouts. She allowed just one earned run in conference games, including tournament play.

“Her velocity is good, she can change speeds, her location is good; but I’ve always thought one of the things that kind of separates her a little bit on the mound is just her makeup and her mental approach,” Collie said. “She’s just super competitive and a lot of times, the bigger the game and the bigger the moment, the more locked in she is and the better she pitches. And she was certainly really good for the whole year.”

Dickinson led a parade of six Ladybirds named to the All-Big East squad — senior Addison Brumfield, juniors Carlee Beckham and Kelsey Jones and freshmen Aaliyah Croll and Noel Dobbins. It was the third All-Big East honor for Brumfield while Jones and Beckham picked up their third career nods.

Kaylie Love, a two-time All-Big East selection in the past, was accorded honorable mention this spring.

The Ladybirds collected their fourth straight conference title since 2020 and reached the third round of the 3-A playoffs after bowing in the second round each of the last two years. Southern Nash, the 3-A East No. 2 seed, survived two one-run outcomes before falling to No. 7 Dixon in the third round.

“There’s so many good teams and I felt like we were one of those really good teams this year,” Collie said. “We came up a little short in the third round but really looking forward to next year and seeing what we can do.”

Big East runner-up Roanoke Rapids was led by Player of the Year Kalissa Williams while Madison Jones, Kaylee Collier and Alayna Davis also represented the 2-A Yellow Jackets. The rest of the All-Big East team is Nash Central’s Hannah Frazier, Lydia Hill, Hannah Hudlow and Layla Lafferty; Franklinton’s Madison Peebles, Kaylei Main and Madison Lada; Bunn’s Emma Sanders and Madeline Bryson; Northern Nash’s Emily Clay and Emma Shingleton and Rocky Mount’s Jada Bernard.

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